$k$-server Byzantine-Resistant PIR Scheme with Optimal Download Rate and Optimal File Size

Abstract

We consider the problem of designing a Private Information Retrieval (PIR) scheme on $m$ files replicated on $k$ servers that can collude or, even worse, can return incorrect answers. Our goal is to correctly retrieve a specific message while keeping its identity private from the database servers. We consider the asymptotic information-theoretic capacity of this problem defined as the maximum ratio of the number of correctly retrieved symbols to the downloaded one for a large enough number of stored files. We propose an achievable scheme with a small file size and prove that such a file size is minimal for the fixed number of retrieved symbols, solving the problem pointed out by Banawan and Ulukus.